Hypocrisy is just one of those bands who will never die, and for that I am thankful. Once again we are graced by the Swedish kings of death metal Hypocrisy. This time around they shrug off the slow and boring songs that were on their last self titled release and go back to basics - a fast, heavy, kick-you-in-the-teeth album, but keeping around some of those slow tempo songs Peter the Meat Beater loves. Tracks one through nine have a good Abducted feel to them, which is a definite good thing. "Legions Descend" starts you off nice and fast and leads you into "Blinded" which has a total thrash feel to it with some good guitar wanking. "Unleash The Beast" (track 4) opens up with an almost punk, which I thought was going to lead into something really stupid, however I was once again made to look like a retard, because it happens to be one of the best songs on the album. Just to keep up the silly extraterrestrial theme they love, "Fire In The Sky" is served up, I am supposing named after the movie about a supposed alien abduction. The one song that totally takes you by surprise on how a band who has been around for so long can still come up with good material is track 9, "Sodomized". Total speed, into some great breakdowns. Even the final track "Deathrow" has the same tone of the album, even though it’s not as fast as the rest of the tunes on this disc, it keeps up appearances by giving off a nice eerie feeling. The thing that sells me on this track are the vocals which sound like a hymn into battle. Several layers of screams and sung vocals all at once just made me cry like a little bitch on how amazing this album is. After hearing the last album I was fearing Hypocrisy was going to become another death-metal-turned-gay-hippy band, but I am very glad I was wrong. My only beef with this record is the use of keyboards, however the music surrounding the keys make up for the use of this much cliched sound. Of course amazingly recorded thanks to the Tagtgren ability of production. You really must just sit in awe of this band and wonder, how do they do it? Everyone should thank their lucky stars that a band can be around as long as this band and mature without just turning into complete shit. I still think Peter and the boys have a lot of time left in them with Hypocrisy. There are a few bands that have been around in the metal scene as long as they have, but are not able to keep the creativity and freshness of their new material that they had on previous efforts. In my eyes, Hypocrisy are much like Morbid Angel, they have been doing it for a long time, and as long as they have been, they keep me wanting more. This is what makes a band not only great, but legendary in the eyes of their fans. When you just can’t stop wanting more… The album title really makes a lot of sense, after slowing down and taking it easy with the last release, it is now time to return Into The Abyss, where we shall find an album worthy of reigning supreme in the underworld. Thanks again guys, you made it up to me. Please come back to North America and show these moronic "brutal" bands what death metal really should sound like.

Written By: Destro